pre-christianity religions in europe and russia

[sthitpradnya]

hello people,
can anyone enlighten me as to what were the predominant religions in ancient europe and russia before the advent of christianity. i recently read a book by michael crichton called "the eaters of the dead". the book has nothing to do with cannibalism. it is a narrative by a recently islamised arab about his travels in erstwhile sweden. he describes the religion of those swedes in some places but i cannot say what it could have been. he mentions a practice among them though - when a man died the community called for virgin volunteers(female) to be cremated alive with the dead!! that too on a wooden barge floating in a river!! which religion could he be referring to?
what were the prevalent religions there before christianity? surely such a vast landmass as russia had to have some indigenous religion?

 

[Breathe]

Norse polytheism, probably?


Europe had its fair share of religions. Mostly related to one another and even with some similarities to Vedic Hinduism.

These religions are:

Norse (Germanic)
Celtic
Slavic
Armenian
Etc.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

In Europe, you had various pagan religions, divided by culture: Norse, Germanic, Celtic, Greek, Roman, Slavic, etc. They were are basically related to one another, and like Odion pointed out, even shared similarities with Hinduism. I'm not entirely sure about Russia, though.

 

[Noaidi]

hello people,
can anyone enlighten me as to what were the predominant religions in ancient europe and russia before the advent of christianity.

In Scandinavia and northern Russia the indigenous Sami have their spirituality based on Nature, featuring gods of wind, reindeer, moon, sun etc. Their beliefs pre-date christianity.
Sami shamanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here in the UK, druidry was perhaps the most widespread pre-christian religion, but not much hard evidence exists of it.
Druid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[mythical-beast]

Primitive shamanism may have still survived in some remote areas when Christianity arrived.

 

[lunakilo]

Most religions in Europe before christianity arrived where polytheistic religions like the greek/roman religions.

In northern and eastern Europe people where not in the habbit of writing things down, so I don't think a lot of written matrial exists except what was written down by the occational arab passing by.

Try this page on wikipedia: Religion in Europe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Yey! I can post links now )

 

[Nooj]

- when a man died the community called for virgin volunteers(female) to be cremated alive with the dead!! that too on a wooden barge floating in a river!! which religion could he be referring to?

That would probably be Norse polytheism. I'm no fan of Michael Crichton and he's certainly not a historian, but there's literary and archaeological evidence that human sacrifice was practiced in those religions.

 

[Gauss]

hello people,
can anyone enlighten me as to what were the predominant religions in ancient europe and russia before the advent of christianity. i recently read a book by michael crichton called "the eaters of the dead". the book has nothing to do with cannibalism. it is a narrative by a recently islamised arab about his travels in erstwhile sweden. he describes the religion of those swedes in some places but i cannot say what it could have been. he mentions a practice among them though - when a man died the community called for virgin volunteers(female) to be cremated alive with the dead!! that too on a wooden barge floating in a river!! which religion could he be referring to?
what were the prevalent religions there before christianity? surely such a vast landmass as russia had to have some indigenous religion?

An interesting religion is the ancient Nordic "Asatro" who points to China, Li Hongzhi and Falun Dafa as the solution for people during these endtimes.

One link in English:


Prose Edda English

 

[Duck]

hello people,
can anyone enlighten me as to what were the predominant religions in ancient europe and russia before the advent of christianity. i recently read a book by michael crichton called "the eaters of the dead". the book has nothing to do with cannibalism. it is a narrative by a recently islamised arab about his travels in erstwhile sweden. he describes the religion of those swedes in some places but i cannot say what it could have been. he mentions a practice among them though - when a man died the community called for virgin volunteers(female) to be cremated alive with the dead!! that too on a wooden barge floating in a river!! which religion could he be referring to?
what were the prevalent religions there before christianity? surely such a vast landmass as russia had to have some indigenous religion?

The native religion in much of Northern Europe (primarily those modern nations bordering the Baltic, along with Iceland) was a polytheistic religion with primary deities including Thor, Odin, Frey, Freya, and Frigga among others. Several of the deities seemed to be nature deities (Thor was associated with thunderstorms, winds, rain and in some way with fertility, Frey was associated with plenty and prosperity (and fertility, I think of crops and the like), Frigga was associated with the home/hearth and governed marriage etc), while others had connotations dealing with human activities and interactions (the god Heimdall was credited with establishing the order of Norse society, Odin (the chief of the gods) was concerned with the ruling class, knowledge, the interactions with strangers (he was famous for dealing rather harshly with people violating the rules of hospitality), oaths and warfare).

I have read in the younger (prose) Eddas that the wife of Baldur (the god of the Day?) was so distraught upon his death that she flung herself on his funeral pyre in order to be reunited with him after Ragnarok. I suspect that this story was the inspiration for Crichton's volunteer virgins. Baldur was cremated on his ship as well.

There have been several recorded ship burials found in Western Europe, at least 2 that I know of in England (possibly more, and I can't remember the place names associated with these burials) and two that I have seen at the Viking Ship museum in Oslo, Norway.

 

[Revasser]

I have read in the younger (prose) Eddas that the wife of Baldur (the god of the Day?) was so distraught upon his death that she flung herself on his funeral pyre in order to be reunited with him after Ragnarok. I suspect that this story was the inspiration for Crichton's volunteer virgins. Baldur was cremated on his ship as well.

There is a reasonable range of evidence for this and other practices of human sacrifice, voluntary or otherwise in both the literature and archeology of the heathen period. Hilda Ellis-Davidson has a chapter on this in her book, Road to Hel. An outstanding read if you can find a copy, though it isn't that easy to come by anymore.

 

[Duck]

There is a reasonable range of evidence for this and other practices of human sacrifice, voluntary or otherwise in both the literature and archeology of the heathen period. Hilda Ellis-Davidson has a chapter on this in her book, Road to Hel. An outstanding read if you can find a copy, though it isn't that easy to come by anymore.

Thanks, I will look for that. I have Gods and Myths of Northern Europe and found it to be very informative, so I will look for Road as well.

 

[sthitpradnya]

sincere thanks to all you people.

 

[Breathe]

You're welcome.